NATO ambassadors on Friday approved a draft summit declaration that commits the alliance to provide €70 billion in military assistance to Ukraine in 2026 and to maintain “at least equivalent levels” in 2027, according to a text seen by Reuters. The document, which still requires final endorsement by heads of state and government at the Ankara summit on 7–8 July, also reaffirms an “ironclad commitment” to collective defence under Article 5 and describes Russia as “a long-term threat to Euro-Atlantic security and stability”. The €140 billion total includes €60 billion already pledged through an EU loan programme, leaving roughly €80 billion to be covered by bilateral contributions from NATO members.

Viewed from Washington, the summit is framed by President Donald Trump’s repeated criticism of allied defence spending. In social media posts this week, Trump called the US relationship with NATO “ridiculous” and “one-sided”, publishing a chart that showed American expenditure far exceeding that of other members. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz responded by stating that Berlin will double its defence budget within four years and expects to reach the 3.5 percent of GDP target agreed at last year’s Hague summit by 2029, well ahead of the 2035 deadline. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ahead of the gathering, intends to present a defence and security spending figure of 2.8 percent of GDP, combining traditional military outlays with investments in energy security, cyber defence and border protection. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda warned that failure by some allies to meet the new spending goal could split the alliance “into two or three parts”.

European diplomats note that the declaration also addresses the alliance’s southern flank. The text calls on Iran to “fully respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz” and reiterates that Tehran must never acquire a nuclear weapon. The summit will for the first time convene a heads-of-state session on southern security challenges, with representatives of four Gulf countries invited under the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. The inclusion of these issues follows months of transatlantic tension over the US-led military campaign against Iran, during which several European allies denied Washington access to bases and airspace, prompting Trump to label NATO a “paper tiger”.

Behind the public messaging, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had planned to announce further troop reductions in Europe last month, but the proposal was shelved after intervention by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior officials, according to the Wall Street Journal. Instead, a six-month review of the American military footprint is under way. NATO officials hope the Ankara summit will project unity, but the unresolved pace of the US drawdown and the lingering dispute over burden-sharing mean the gathering is likely to be dominated by the same questions that have strained the alliance since Trump’s return to the White House. The final declaration is expected to be adopted by leaders on 8 July.